I like to tease you
by 7fannypacks
Summary: Richie finds it amusing how Eddie reacts to his actions. (Short-story) Read in order! I hope you enjoy! I'm also on Wattpad : @ fannypacks
1. 1-Acne

Eddie couldn't stop staring at it. At him. It was such a blunt situation, yet, somehow captivating for someone like him. Someone so self-aware, someone that cares about small things, nevertheless someone who can miss very clear signs, but that's for another time.

The losers were having a sleepover at Ben's place, they had one every few weeks alternating between houses. It was mid-summer and Bev was back in Derry for the holidays, so this time, unlike previous sleepovers, the seven of them were scattered around Ben's bedroom floor with blankets, pillows and sleeping bags.

Around 10 p.m. they started changing into pyjamas and getting ready to later play games and talk until it was too late to even think straight. It was right then, when Beverly was in the bathroom changing and the boys in the bedroom, Eddie had already changed to his sleeping shorts and t-shirt and now sat on his sleeping bag ready to take his night pills. It was right then, when the lights were dim and the walls reflected orangy shades coming from the two lamps on opposite sides of the room, window slightly parted so a tiny heated breeze marked its presence around short hairs. It was right then, when Eddie gattered three double coloured pills in his hand and tilted his head backwards, that something caught his attention. Darting his eyes towards it, he saw Richie near a tiny mirror on Ben's wall just casually applying some weird transparent gel to the little pimples and acne scars on his forehead and cheeks.

Why was he staring? He didn't know.

Why was Richie applying acne gel on his face such a sight for him? He also didn't know.

But there he was, pills in hand, an open water bottle in the other and his lips slightly gaped while he followed Richie's movements.

Richie carefully applied pressure to the ends of the small tube and covered only one fingerprint with product. Then, just like a painter's process, he dotted every little spot on his face, the reds, the purples, the pinks, all of them. Eddie noticed that his forehead was lined with them almost like a crown close to his hairline, and he couldn't stop himself from gulping at the sight.

Now here's the thing, when you look at Eddie you see someone that almost certainly has a skin care routine, because, well, he's Eddie. He likes to have everything under control, and certainly everything clean, especially his skin. Everyone in the group had already seen him freak out over a non-expected pimple, as if pimples were expectable at all. But then there's Richie, Richie seems like a guy who doesn't take care of himself that much but still owns a very big ego. That's why Eddie was so drawn to the situation, he never guessed he would presence Richie taking care of his skin, it's out of character for him, Eddie thought, but so intriguing to watch.

After putting the lid back on, Richie started spreading the little dots of gel around his skin, but with an ever so gentle pressure that didn't leave traces of friction behind on his already scarred face. He had never seen Richie look more beautiful before. Eddie didn't notice his own cheeks warming up and he certainly didn't notice the over repeated movements of his subject of admiration.

A few meters away, Richie sat on a small stuffed stool with one leg beneath him, facing the wall that held a tiny mirror by a nail and string. He sighed silently before removing his glasses and resting them on his lap. He avoided staring at his skin closely, his acne didn't bother him, unless, of course, he was forced to sit by a mirror every time he had to do this stupid treatment, the more he looked at it the more he hated it. He just wanted to get it over with while his friends were distracted.

It felt refreshing against his heated skin from the warmness of the room they were in. When the little breeze from the open window made his hair flinch away from his peripherical vision, he noticed the small unmoving figure of Eddie sitting nearby. He felt watched, even though he couldn't know for sure since he didn't have his glasses on and he didn't dare to look directly at him anyways. So he acted like it was nothing and continued the task at hand, blushing madly at the possibility of being watched and later teased for caring about pimples.

After two minutes he was almost sure he was being watched. Richie knew that if he turned to face Eddie right now he would caught him right there and it would be priceless to watch, but he was having too much fun so he repeated everything over again. His suspicions were confirmed when he noticed the yet unmoving shape of his friend. Richie smirked internally, scratching the possibility of being teased rather than being admired.

Eddie failed to react quickly when Richie started picking up his glasses and turning his face to look at him straight in the eye. In an instant his eyes bugged open and his muscles tensed up, he clenched his fists forgeting about the open water bottle in his right hand. Next thing he knows his lap is covered in cold water causing him to jump on his sitting position.

" _Shit_." he got up on his knees " _Shit shit shit_. " he kept talking under his breath while grasping his damp clothes, the pills falling from his hand.

' _I messed up so bad._.' he thought. Not only did he get caught, he also embarrassed himself in front of everyone, luckily the rest of the group was turned away from them doing something else.

Richie did his best not to lose it once he saw it happen, he reached for his day t-shirt crumbled inside his backpack, and made his way to Eddie and Beverly who just now arrived.

"Eddie? What happened? " Eddie turned around to face Bev who just came from the bathroom in her pyjamas. She was already kneeling next to him with a planted hand on his shoulder, he tried to mouth an answer but Richie spoke for him. " Distracted much, Eds? " Richie said while attempting to clean Eddie's water repellent sleeping bag.

"Uh, y-yes."

The smirk was inevitable, Richie had really tried.


	2. 2-Flowers

After this awkward event that left Eddie's mind plastered with images of Richie and his stupidly good looking marks and spots, some more came along and Eddie was beginning to think that they weren't accidental.

On the other side, Richie could confirm this. He found it amusing how Eddie would react to his innocent actions. As innocent as they could be.

Two weeks after, when the losers were having a picnic sorta of afternoon at the quarry, Richie had the brilliant idea of picking up a small wildflower and place it among his wavy locks of hair.

"What's that for? " Stan had said.

"You looks so pretty! " Beverly copied his actions, she wanted a flower crown for her self.

" I-It complements your eyes, R-Richie."

Bill's comment made Eddie look up from his sandwich which he deeply regretted. Richie had already three tiny flowers randomly placed on his hair and was picking up one more. The sun light made his dark eyes a lighter shade of brown, and the white yellowish petals contrasted his hair perfectly. Eddie forgot to chew the bite of his sandwich and swallowed, choking on it, he felt the harsh drag of it down to his stomach. He started coughing instantly trying his best to catch his breath.

"God, Eddie! " Ben rushed to place a hand on his back.

"Breathe, man." Mike stated.

He finally calmed down shortly after, his whole face a deeper shade because of the lack of oxygen, of course. "I'm fine, guys, thanks."

" _Damn_ , Bev. You must be right. Eddie couldn't even deal with how good I look! "

That earned a few chuckles from the group, Eddie just frowned at him and resumed eating his luch. " Jeez, really funny. I almost died and you laugh."


	3. 3-Chapstick

When Eddie thought it couldn't get worse, _it did._

The end of July was approaching and this time a movie maraton was taking place at Bill's. After a long time protesting about what movie type they should watch, they finally settled in a sci-fi comedy, a weird combination.

Some were against it but the majority won.

Richie, on his end of the couch, was contemplating his next move. He had a very good idea two days beforehand, and he thought that this afternoon would be the perfect time to execute it, but he was second guessing that decision.

Almost two thirds in the movie Mike said he needed to use the bathroom and Beverly took this opportunity to drag Ben to the kitchen so they could grab snacks. That left Stan, Bill, Richie and Eddie by themselves. Once the movie was paused, chattering filled the living room, soft colours casted through the curtains, the blues and greens from the paterns made the boy's skin shimmer in the same colours. Richie was on one end of the couch, Eddie on the other with Bill between them hugging his knees to his chest. In front of them, on the carpeted floor, Stan sat with his knees underneath him. All were talking except for Richie, he was busy looking directly at Eddie just waiting for him to look over. Reaching for his pocket he took out a small peach scented chapstick that he shamelessly bought on the convenience store the previous day. He flicked the cap out and on a few times, knowing that the sound would bring some attention to him, hopefully the right one. But the three friends were still laughing in their conversation, paying little attention to Richie.

He frowned at that, and also at the fact that Mike, Ben and Bev reentered the room with microwaved popcorn and a bowl with miscellaneous candy.

Once the movie restarted, Richie lost interest in it so he sunk in his seat and hugged a decorative pillow, taking out the chapstick and playing with it with his fingers. 'What a dumb idea, I'm so stupid ' he thought while taking the cap out and twisting it up. He brought it closer to his face and the sweet scent hit his nostrils while he applied the colorless substance to his lips, it felt sticky, and he didn't enjoy that. Why do girls wear lipstick? Do they all feel like glue?

A loud **_shoosh_** followd by a **_thud_** ripped him out of his thoughts.

Eddie's bowl went flying off of his grip straight to the floor, popcorn flying everywhere around him. All losers were startled by it and six shocked expressions turned to Eddie. The poor boy only blurted out a very annoyed " You've got to be fucking kidding me!".


	4. 4-Straws & Ice Cream

This hell of a summer is taking forever to end.

That's the only thing present on Eddie's mind as the days go by. He didn't know anymore if things kept happening unplanned, out of fate, or by the hands of Richie fucking Tozier.

He was low-key pissed. How couldn't he be? They days were taking forever to pass and with every Loser's meeting something had to happen that would make him embarrass himself in front of everyone. He had enough.

No, he hadn't.

Truth was, Eddie had finally admitted how enjoyable it was to stare at Richie. He learned a couple things on these occasions.

One, Richie was pretty. He pleased his eyes, as much as he hated to admit that.

Two, Eddie was helpless. He managed to fuck something up every time, and that was a role for Richie, not him.

And right now, he wanted it more than ever to be true, because they were at a diner having brunch and Richie had been chewing and biting at his straw for the last 3 minutes and Eddie only wished he would choke on it or God help him something bad would happen.

Thankfully, things were finally looking up for him because seconds later Richie excused himself to the bathroom and Eddie took a deep breath as he left the table. He managed not to embarrass himself this time.

Or maybe he jumped to conclusions way too quickly.

"So.. Eddie." He turned his face to look at Bev. "We're a little confused here."

He gulped down the last sip of his milkshake slowly. "How so?"

"We're just-" But before Beverly could finish, Stan interrupted her.

"-trying to figure out if we should give you sunglasses or a bib for all that drool."

If Eddie had been drinking at the moment, he would have definitely choked.

"E-excuse me?" He ignored the laughs coming from the others.

"It's getting harder to ignore." Mike explained and Bill agreed.

Ben offered him a sympathetic smile.

Eddie just stared at them with a frown, hoping to somehow save his ass this time.

It was true, this had been going on longer than expected, those previous incidents were not the end of it by any means. Every other day Eddie would find himself lost and dumbfounded at Richie's actions. He thought he was being low about it, but he would always find a way to bring all the attention to him, in embarrassing ways.

Beverly cut the silence. "Not the we're really bothered-

"-speak for yourself." Stan interrupted her again.

"Let me fucking finish, Stan." She gave him a threatening glare before continuing. "We're just trying to spare you the embarrassment."

"I have my doubts about that." Eddie scowled at them, trying to hide behind his empty glass.

A laugh escaped from Mike's side. "Yeah, you're right. Your tiny crush is very amusing."  
Eddie reddened.

"It's not like that! His stupidity is just very-

"Attractive?" Stan suggested. Damn him and his interruptions.

"No! What the hell, guys!"

"You sure were enjoying the sight last week when he was putting on sunscreen."

Poor Eddie just started throwing napkins at Beverly in order to shut her mouth. She laughed at his failed attempt of hitting her with one.

"If Richie knows a-about it. His ego will buh-burst the ceiling."

"There's nothing to know about, you morons! Just shut up about this okay?"

"Shut up about what?" Richie's voice came from behind Eddie, startling him so hard that he jumped and his seat and hit his knee under the table. The pain jolted through is entire leg and he cursed loudly.

The third thing Eddie learnt:

\- apparently, everyone was getting free entertainment out of him.

And his weird infatuation was simply going to stop.

Turns out it didn't.

See, things were easier said than done. That's why three days after the diner incident Eddie found himself on the same situation.

This was one of the rare occasions where some of them could not attend. Stan and Mike already had plans for today's afternoon and Eddie was glad at the chances of being less mocked.

But of course, there was Bev.

"Nice sunglasses, Eddie." She smirked at him behind her ice cream cone.

 _Yes,_ Eddie took the previous advice to action, he brought dark sunglasses just _in case_ he needed them, you know, for science.

"Thanks." He remarked ironically and returned to his ice cream.

To say the weather was hot was an understatement. Eddie was almost sure his skin would melt away if he stood in the sun for more than five minutes.  
For that reason, after everyone got ice cream, they headed to the main park, with enough trees to hide them away from the sun.  
They settled on the grass, Eddie pushed his mother's stupid words out of his mind.

That's where they were now, scattered under the shades of the oldest trees in the park, near a water fountain that kept the air filled with droplets sounds.

It should have been obvious. It should have crossed Eddie's mind when everyone agreed to ice cream. But it didn't, and now he was stuck having to watch Richie and his stupid melting ice cream as he licked the drips running down the cookie cone.

He pushed his sunglasses up his nose and tried to tear his eyes away. Luckily everyone engaged in conversation which managed to keep him distracted for a while.

Soon, Richie finished his ice cream (he ate it in 3 bites) and spread himself on the grass like a star fish, ready to whine. "It's way too hot here." And proceeded to groan to show his annoyance at the weather.

"Thu-there's always the fountain." Eddie's neck turned so abruptly to Bill that he heard it snap.

"That's not a good idea at all." He said before Richie could agree. "That water is all dirty and full of bird's poop and other things."

"Like I care."

Eddie just gulped at the sight of Richie getting up on unsteady limbs and making his way over to the fountain. Then he turned with furious eyes to face Bill.

"I fucking hate you." He mouthed.

Bill chuckled quietly and motioned his head towards Richie, who was coming back with a dripping face, wet arms, hair partly slicked back with water and a wet stained t-shirt.

And yes, it was a very nice sight for the 16-year-old Kaspbrak once Richie sat back down, crossed ankles and weight supported on his wrists.

Whatever conversation taking place at the moment didn't reach Eddie's ears or mind. He was too busy looking at the water drops racing down Richie's forehead, and the one that stuck on his eyelashes that brought the boy to wipe it away.

Richie's lips were turned into a wide smile caused by whatever story Ben was telling them. And when his tongue made its way over them to remove the water that had settled there, Eddie's breath faltered.

But you know what? Fuck it, he brought sunglasses for a reason.

Also, did he mention how his shirt was clinging to his skin under the wet spots? He was pretty sure _that_ was a nipple. And he fought hard against his urge to clutch his hands like he had done previously with the water bottle.

Minutes could have passed, he didn't know anymore. When Richie's voice hit his ears, though, Eddie's heart stopped beating and he felt a knot forming in his stomach for every word spoken.

"You know, Eds, I'm not really sure the sunglasses' situation is helping you much." And when Eddie kept silent, he continued. "I mean, I would never think you brought them on purpose to ogle me… but the ice cream melting all over your hand for the past 3 minutes proves me wrong."

Eddie carefully removed the glasses out of his face with his free hand and blinked once at Richie. That was the moment he noticed Bill, Ben and Bev were making their way to the fountain like Richie did.

"I always knew you had the hots for me. Can't blame ya." He winked at him.

Eddie's nostrils flared from the sharp inhale. His eyebrows lowered on his face and he stared at Richie with a very dull expression.

"You have been doing this on purpose, haven't you?"

" _What? No way!"_ Richie lifted his hand to place it above his heart in fake shock. "Took you a month to figure ou-" But before he could finish Eddie shoved the almost entirely melted ice cream on his face.

"You fucking moron!"

And behind splattered thick lenses, Richie blinked at him in surprise.

When the others came back to find two boys shoving vanilla sticky hands on each other's faces and laughing hysterically, they settled on a free show.

That is, until Richie decided to lick the ice cream of Eddie's face,

and mouth,

and Eddie didn't complain.

They left about then.


End file.
